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CBS4 News
May 5, 2006 11:27 pm US/Eastern
Punishment Is Due For
Boot Camp Death Subjects: Doctors Now Say Anderson Died Of
Suffocation
Enhanced video:
http://cbs4.com/topstories/local_story_125194122.html
Jim DeFede
(CBS4 News) Several weeks ago the parents of
Martin Lee Anderson, the 14-year-old boy who died after being beaten
by guards at a Panama City boot camp, made a heart wrenching
decision.
They asked that the remains of their son be
unearthed so that a second autopsy could be performed.
It was not an easy decision, and it was surely
one the family agonized over. But they wanted to learn the truth
behind their son's death and the only way they could find that truth
was by unearthing their child's body from what should have been his
final resting place.
On Friday we learned the results of that second
autopsy. Martin Lee Anderson, who in death has come to symbolize the
brutality and folly the state's boot camp system, died at the hands
of guards who suffocated him.
After punching and kneeing Anderson, the guards
covered his mouth and forced him to inhale caplets filled with
ammonia.
The ammonia caused his vocal chords to spasm,
swelling shut his airway until he eventually passed out and died.
And why were these barbaric tactics employed?
Because Anderson was too weak to run laps around the boot camp and
the guards thought he was faking.
He was weak, and they killed him.
This second autopsy contradicts the findings of
the original pathologist on the case, Dr. Steve Seibert, who
concluded Anderson died from a sickle cell trait - a finding which
has been roundly rebuked by the scientific community.
Friday's autopsy results by Dr. Vernard Adams
falls more in line with the results of the family's own medical
expert, Dr. Charles Baden.
But while we are now a step closer to knowing
the truth, more needs to be done. Armed with these findings, the
special prosecutor in the case needs to move forward in pressing
criminal charges against not only the guards who were present and
participated in this heinous act, but the nurse, who stood by and
watched as a young child was killed.
And let's not forget Dr. Seibert, the original
pathologist whose findings have now been soundly rejected.
Either Dr. Seibert was trying to cover up for
the good old boys in the Panhandle or his medical prowess is highly
suspect. In either event he should be removed from office and
replaced with someone who the public can have confidence in so that
parents - like Martin Lee Anderson's parents - will never have to
face the agonizing task of digging up their child's remains to
discover the truth.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights
Reserved.)
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